....Imagine you wrote a letter to the White House to share your personal struggle and instead of receiving a form letter in return, President Obama cut you a check.

It's happened, and more than once, according to Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow's new book "Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President." Fellow Post reporter Nia-Malika Henderson writes Friday on a surprising excerpt from Saslow's book:

A few times during his presidency, Obama admitted, he had written a personal check or made a phone call on the writer's behalf, believing that it was his only way to ensure a fast result. "It's not something I should advertise, but it has happened," he told [Saslow]. Many other times, he had forwarded letters to government agencies or Cabinet secretaries after attaching a standard, handwritten note that read: "Can you please take care of this?"

When I was about 8 or 9, I was sick with a bad cold and I wrote and told President Eisenhower about that. He wrote back to "Master Joseph Lee O." with a hand-written "Get well" note in a hand-addressed envelope ... and now I cannot find that note anywhere so I can sell his signature on FleaBay!